Ugly but Good: Easy Beef Short Ribs

A new item showed up recently in the meat selections at our local dairy: beef short ribs. Since our dairy delivers milk, cheese and meat to our home, we considered this a great development. We love beef short ribs, especially this time of year when braising meat for a long time in the oven is one of our favorite pastimes.

But these short ribs touched off an immediate debate between my wife and I. She thought they weren’t thick enough and were cut too small. I was happy just to have a grassfed short rib so easily available when finding short ribs in the store can often be such a hassle. Well, these small-size short ribs swelled into little monsters once I started browning the at the bottom of a heavy braising pot. Still, we often wonder if our dairy spends much time thinking about how their meat products stack up to customers’ expectations.

We have a short rib recipe we love seasononed with garam masala. We first saw it in the Union Square Cafe and have been devoted to it ever since. But it does involve a couple of bottle of wine and a long reduction. I wanted something easier. So I turned to the method we use for our braised oxtails–brown the meat, then some aromatic vegetables, add wine and brown stock–and the short ribs came out just fine.

So just follow the recipe I wrote up here. While the ribs are cooking in the oven, you can steam some parsnips and turnips on the stove. Mash them fine with some cream and you have a fine side dish to drench with the pot liquor.